Delhi HC refuses to stay ED case against Kejriwal in excise policy case

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay for now the proceedings against former CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to purported irregularities in the state excise policy 2021-22.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued a notice and sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by the former Delhi chief minister challenging a trial court’s order taking cognisance of a chargesheet in the case.

The matter will be heard on December 20.

Kejriwal sought setting aside of the trial court order and argued that cognisance of the chargesheet was taken by the special court in the absence of the required sanction for his prosecution as he was a public servant when the alleged offence was committed.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, submitted a sanction was obtained to prosecute Kejriwal and he would be filing an affidavit.

Kejriwal’s counsel said the relevant document was not supplied to them along with the supplementary chargesheet and claimed there was no sanction at the time of filing of the final report.

The AAP convenor’s lawyer sought an early hearing after the court posted the hearing in January, 2025, and insisted an order on his plea for a stay on the proceedings be passed during the day owing to urgency.

Mehta opposed the submission and sought to file a reply to the stay application, pointing out such an approach was unfair.

He said this was a kind of “threat” on the part of the petitioner to carry the matter to the Supreme Court.

Kejriwal’s lawyer responded asking how could they “threaten anybody”.

The court, which said an early date was not possible as there was “enough load”, posted the matter on December 20.

Kejriwal’s counsel also urged the high court to exempt the leader from appearing before the trial court, scheduled to hear the money laundering case on December 3.

Justice Ohri remarked such a request could be made by the petitioner to the trial court and not before him.

During the hearing, Kejriwal’s counsel contended the seventh supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED naming Kejriwal as an accused was the “verbatim” repetition of the sixth supplementary chargesheet.

He said it was filed without any new material collected during investigation and even the witnesses were the same in both chargesheets.

Mehta objected to the submission saying it was factually incorrect and further investigation was conducted by the ED.

Apart from seeking to set aside the trial court’s July 9 order taking cognisance of the chargesheet, Kejriwal sought quashing of all proceedings in the case.

The plea contended that the prosecution of Kejriwal was bad in the eyes of law as it was without obtaining the mandatory sanctions under Section 197 of the CrPC despite the allegations pertaining to the official acts performed by him.

According to Section 197(1) of the CrPC, when any person who is or was a judge or magistrate or a public servant not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the government, is accused of any offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty, no court shall take cognisance of such offence except with the previous sanction.

On November 12, the high court sought ED’s response on another plea filed by Kejriwal who challenged summons issued to him on the agency’s complaint in the money laundering case.

The high court refused to stay the trial court proceedings at the moment in the criminal case.

While Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on July 12 in the money laundering case, the apex court released him on bail in the CBI case on September 13.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.

The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021 and scrapped it by the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.

The money laundering case stems from a CBI case lodged after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy.